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User blog:Bern Unit/Bern Unit - Blood From A Stone
Arriving at the Ark of Generation-1, Bern made his way through the halls of base and down into what appeared to be the lounge type area. There Bern sat and began to write in his journal; “I nearly killed a man, a good man, an innocent man. I didn’t mean to, I was confused and hallucinating. I was under the effects of some kind of gas created by that psycho Scarecrow. What, for me, was equally as important as almost killing a man was what I saw under the effects of the gas. I saw home, I saw him. I think the last time I saw him was when I was 11. My blood instantly boiled and my felt as red as the fire that cast. I was under the impression that the gas makes you see what you fear……I don’t fear him……I fear becoming him.” As he continued to catalog his thoughts he heard from in front of him “Hey you’re the new guy aren’t you?” Bern looked up to see a woman with plant like skin and dark hair, he placed his book away and nodded “Yeah, I guess that is me” he replied. He stood to greet his league mate and shook hands “Bernard…..uh…Bern Unit” she smiled and shook his hand “Nice to meet you Bern, I’m Asentmah or Vana, either is fine. Welcome to Generation -1”. Bern was slightly taken back by how comfortable Asentmah was with her skin and plant like appearance. “So how did you find your way to us here?” asked Asentmah. Bern took a deep breath and began telling her of the assignment in the Nexus and the aftermath of his nervous breakdown and subsequent black out. The two sat and exchanged stories about their pre-super powered lives. Asentmah recalled being a Metropolis S.C.U. officer, an incident with Poison Ivy and a failed attempt by Lex Luthor to get Asentmah to cripple Superman. Bern listened as she recalled the story of her past, the pride she expressed in having her powers and the plans she has to use them. Bern followed up to her about how he has never felt very comfortable with being called a superhero and his challenges with accepting his present state. Asentmah shook her head and shouted at him “Dude…you have SUPER POWERS!! For god sakes man, bullets bounce off that rock skin of yours, you FLY!!!, you can lift a damn bus!! You have been given a chance to do it all again, right all those wrongs you say you had. You have a second damn chance!!” Bern heard her words and while he knew she was right, it still took a little to sink in with him. Bern asked Asentmah “Do you ever miss being a cop? I mean do you ever miss not being able to put on the uniform and just be old self?” Asentmah looked at him and explained that she still does many of the same activities she engaged in as a cop, “I still patrol, I still fight crime and I still have a uniform, all be it stuck to me but I have one”. Asentmah thought for a moment “….you busy? I have the night rotation in Gotham, you want to tag along?” Bern was a little confused as to what she meant “patrolling” she replied “do you want to go patrolling with me?” Feeling a little nervous Bern replied “Oh sure..” The two made their way to Gotham and took the skies. “So now what do we do?” asked Bern. Asentmah replied “we look and listen to any disturbances.” Bern scratched his head a little “You know we are in Gotham, right?” The two made their way over the streets addressing some of the minor and moderate threats around the city and dispensing of them on the steps of the area police departments. In a way it felt kind of relaxing for Bern to be out and simply gliding around the city like this. It was also enjoyable to have someone to talk to that seemed to been a good example of how someone can be comfortable with themselves after having their appearance and life turned upside down. “Do you miss it?” asked Bern “Do you miss just being normal?” Asentmah laughed a little “yeah, sometimes, I mean my dance cart isn’t exactly full right now but in other ways I don’t. I have abilities that some people only dream about. Those looks I get from people, I tell myself they are looks of jealousy because they can’t do what I can.” Bern thought on this for a moment and said to himself “Yeah, I guess she is kind of right”. The two continued on their patrol of Gotham that evening and stopped over an area of the East End. Asentmah was able to identify a cloud coming from the area as fear toxin, the substance created by the Scarecrow that Bern had recently become familiar with. “Is it safe to go in there?” Bern questioned. Asentmah replied “With a little help from Mother Nature it will be…” she used her powers to create a filter around their mouths and nose to prevent them from taking in any of the fear gas. They rushed into the area and began dispensing of the equipment used to spread the cloud of terror over the city. Bern felt himself growing increasingly angry, having been aware of what this gas can do to people. With each swing of his hammer another fan was put out of commission. Asentmah took to addressing the actual thugs while Bern continued to dispense of the fans placed around the city. Moment later Bern found himself face to face with one of Scarecrow’s thugs. The thug pulled out a gun and squeezed off a few round at Bern. The bullets hit him and then fell to the ground. Bern walked slowly towards the thug, hammer hung across his shoulder. Bern knew what he was going to do, he was going to instill the same fear into this thug that he felt from the gas they were pumping into the air. The thug kept pulling the trigger to no avail, the bullets continued to fall to the ground after hitting Bern’s hardened exterior. Bern began to speak to the thug as he approached him “I want you to give your boss a message for me…”, the thug doubled over as Bern shoved his hammer into hi gut. “I want you to tell him that I will not stand to let him spread his disease to anymore people. The thug looked up to find only Bern’s boot coming straight towards his head. The thug flew back against the wall of the parking garage. Bern’s words were dark and slow “Tell him that I will find him and make him feel the same fear he makes others feel”. Bern took his hammer, swung it at the wall of the garage and a loud crash echoed through the garage as concrete and debris fell over the thug. Bern dropped his hammer, grabbed the thug and began punching him repeatedly “Tell him I will set his soul on fire until he knows just how it feels to have all his worst nightmares come to life”. Bern continued punching the thug until he felt something from behind him pull him away from the beating he was dispensing. “Bern STOP!!” Asentmah shouted. She had unleashed a flurry of vines that wrapped around his arms and body to stop him from going any further. Bern looked at his gloves and saw the blood on them. His breathing slowed and he looked at the thug who he had beaten within an inch of his life. “You are going to kill him if you don’t stop” she said to him. Asentmah looked at Bern “I think he got the message…no can I let you go? Are you going to play nice??” Bern nodded “yeah….i’m okay”. Asentmah released him from her vines hold. Bern took a second to collect himself and slowly walked over to the thug who was barely conscious but alive, Bern picked him up by his throat and pulled him in close to his face, his voice and words were stern and calculated “Tell them all, let them know that they cannot scare us anymore, I will not allow it. I will be the smoke that you choke on and the fire that burns away all the evil that you try to place on this word.” Bern dropped the thug back to the ground and looked at Asentmah “time to go?” and Asentmah nodded. The two made their way to the Cape Carmine lighthouse and set down on the back of the top tier overlooking the water. “You almost killed that guy” Asentmah stated. Bern looked at her “I know…I wasn’t trying to but something took over in me.” Bern explained his recent run in at Arkham, the guard and the fear gas. He went on to explain the history of his abusive father and fears around being just like him. Asentmah listened as she could tell that this was not something that the smokey brute shared regularly. “I’m trying to get a handle on this, I really am. I just have all this stuff pent up inside. It makes me so irate that someone would do that to another person, use a person’s fears for their own gain.” He went on to state that he felt like he had a purpose now, that he would be a force that would combat the people and things that other’s feared, people like the Scarecrow and others who would try to terrorize those who could not stand up for themselves. Asentmah nodded “yeah, we all bring something to the table. I hear you in that this is something important to you. I worry though that you might get too close to some of this stuff and not being able to stop yourself from going too far.” Bern listened to her words and nodded in understanding “I can see why you would think that….I will get help…” and he extended his hand. Asentmah smiled, leaned up and kissed his cheek “You are a good man Bern. We all have our demons and skeletons. They don’t have to rule you. I’m going to head back to the hall, see you back there.” Asentmah took off and Bern stood to look out across the water by the lighthouse. Bern took a deep breath and exhaled. He knew Asentmah’s words to be true about not letting our past rule us. As the day go on he becomes a little more accepting of these words and the idea that he is in fact a good man. ~To be continued~ Category:Blog posts